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The Corner Cabinet Problem

Before you can understand my solution, we first need to take a look at the problem. I had this awkward corner cabinet.

When the previous owner built the house, he put two regular cabinets together to form a corner cabinet. He DIYed many things around the house (which I respect), but unfortunately, some things created more issues. This cabinet is one of them.

In this case, there’s a wooden support in the middle of the cabinet entry making it difficult to get anything out of the cabinet.

Also, my kitchen is tiny. Therefore, I can’t even open one of the cabinet doors fully without it dinging my new stove. Needless to say, this doesn’t make me happy.

Plus, I can’t utilize the cabinet effectively because I can’t get into it to put anything away properly, or to pull anything out of it.

Obviously, it’s an awkward cabinet which hinders my kitchen from functioning the way it should. Below are the steps on how I went about fixing the awkwardness in my kitchen:

1. Remove Doors

The doors were a huge hindrance for being able to access anything in the cabinet because they couldn’t be opened all the way without dinging my stove.

Also, you must open one cabinet door before you can open the other because they rub.

The first step to fixing the awkward cabinet was to remove the doors. I love open cabinetry as it is. Therefore, I figured, what the heck!

I pulled out my trusty impact driver, attached it to the hinges, and began to gently back the screws out of the hinges, holding the doors in place.

Once the screws are removed from the hinges, detach the hinges from the cabinet, and remove the doors.

Save the doors because (if it’ll work in your kitchen) I have an idea as to how they can be reused if you don’t care for open cabinets.

2. Cut Through the Post

The next issue I faced with my awkward corner cabinet was the post dividing the two cabinets. It simply hindered your movement and access to the cabinet no matter how you attempted to fold yourself up to fit between the doors to look in the cabinet.

Trust me; I’ve spent more hours on my kitchen floor folded up like a pretzel trying to get into this cabinet than I care to admit.

I decided the post needed to go. Again, I pulled out my trusty tools and went to work. This time I used my Sawzall.

5. Add Further Organization

The last step of making your awkward corner cabinet a usable cabinet is by organizing it. In my case, the shelving I had was fine. I only needed an easier way to access it.

However, there are many different ways to organize your cabinet to make it more functional. The first option is to add pull out shelves. This way you won’t have to hunt for anything in the cabinet ever again.

Instead, you pull out the shelf, and everything comes to you. These can be an investment, but would undoubtedly make life easier too.

The second option is to put shelving in the cabinet at an angle. This allows the shelving to be closer to the front but still run the length of the cabinet.

Finally, consider adding hooks to the top of the cabinet. If any of your cookware has holes in the handles meant for hanging, this cabinet could be where you easily store it.

But what if you aren’t into open shelving? Remember how I told you to save those doors? Well, you can reuse them differently.

Instead of the doors opening outward, you put them on door slides. Meaning, the door looks like a normal door.

However, when you pull the knob, the door will slide out towards you on a slide, and you can push the door back in when done.

This goes well if you use shelf organizers, and even a lazy susan can make an awkward corner space fully useful. Again, this requires a small investment but would make your kitchen function better in the long run in some cases.

For me, my kitchen was too small to have pull-out cabinet doors, and I’m a sucker for open shelving and cabinetry.

Well, this is how I turned my corner cabinet nightmare into a functioning cabinet. It has helped make storage easier in a small kitchen, and it makes cooking much easier as well (since I can access my pans easier.)

Everyone has a tough corner cabinet in their kitchen. Even if this idea doesn’t work exactly for your situation, maybe it’ll inspire you to figure out a way to make the cabinet function better.